Master the art of the exchange technique in chess

A few days ago, our guest coach GM Levan Aroshidze prepared a lesson for you about the “Exchange Technique” in chess. If you missed it, you can watch it now here.

Today, we’ll be continuing with the second part of the lesson. Before that, you need to understand the philosophy of the exchange technique clearly.

The exchange technique is not a simple TRADING of pieces. It occurs where you EXCHANGE the good pieces of your opponent, thereby leaving him with the bad ones.

To keep it short, the exchange must be beneficial for you (or at least, bad for your opponent). In some cases, you have to exchange some of your pieces in order to avoid losing them completely.

Now, let me provide you with a practical example:

Black to play

How would you play here as Black? You should just not guess one move. You have to figure out a plan and calculate all possible variations. After that, you can watch the second part of the video lesson to find out the answer.

In the second part of “Exchange Technique”, you’ll learn about choosing an exchange amongst several exchange possibilities, what you should do when you are down in material, and lots more.

Did you know that the greatest players of the USSR have said: “You can just win a game by correctly made exchanges”?

As I don’t wish to drag out this article, you can watch the video lesson below:

Since people often say that a picture is worth a thousand words, I thought I should share this picture with you.